My Hero Romance: Chapter Eighteen
{| Chapter Eighteen Breakfast was nothing short of awkward and only worsened as the day went on. It first began when he mentioned her kissing his cheek and she made it worse by not disagreeing with it. They walked back to UA and it was still pretty awkward because she wore a skirt and tripped in front of him. Katsuko opted to just not doing much of anything and sitting away from Toshinori in the arena so as to not cause any more embarrassment. She was clearly still suffering from her massive failures that started her morning due to the red blush on her face. That might also be due to Toshinori catching her staring every once in awhile but he couldn't be sure. He stood up and sat besides her. "Breakfast was good. I didn't know you could cook." He hummed, trying to calm her anxious nerves. "I can't cook. I always get a salad or bento box." She bit her lip, grinning. "Yeah, I figured you didn't know how to cook. I can bake too, but it's not like my cooking." He nodded. "Last night, you, uh, you had a nightmare." He looked down before turning to face her. "I would've kept the wall between us, but you were thrashing about, hitting the wall. I didn't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry for intruding in your personal space." "No, no. Don't apologize for being worried, okay?" She rubbed her arm, sighing. "I have nightmares a lot, more common than dreams these days, but I learn to deal. Thank you for keeping me safe, but I suppose that's just your second job now, isn't it? Taking care of little old me." "The only thing I agreed to was making sure you weren't alone anymore." He turned red at the notion of being her permanent caretaker. "Which does not state I have to always take care of you." "You haven't read the fine print when you signed the contract, Toshi." She snorted, poking his darkening cheeks. "It's really easy to embarrass you, isn't it? I think that's really cute, it's nice to see All Might not so mighty for once. It's good seeing you so vulnerable. Makes you look and seem more like a normal person. That's why I like Toshinori more than All Might." Toshinori had to quickly wipe blood away from his mouth. "This form isn't that special..." He concealed his gentle smile. "It's really important. Why? Because you can't always put on that front of being a hero. You have to be able to live normal without the gaze of paparazzi. It's unfair to force the idea that because you're All Might, that you don't deserve to feel anything much. You don't have to always smile either. I get why you do it, but as Toshi, you only smile when something makes you happy." She looked up at the sky and smiled. "That's why I like you, Toshinori. We both have problems that need help. You don't think your true form is beautiful or even important, I do. I don't think I'm that important. We can be broken together and heal each other, hm? And I mean what I said about this form, Toshi. I think it's really beautiful. I don't really understand why you don't like it." No blood rushed from his mouth this time. It all went straight to his cheeks. He didn't know what to say to that, finding himself doing nothing but stuttering. He couldn't help but turn away, a smile on his face. "I rendered the all mighty Small Might speechless. I love that." Katsuko smiled at his sudden silence. "You should give yourself more credit as Toshinori. You're as great as you are now as All Might. Just because you don't think you matter in this form, you matter to me. You helped me, Toshi, you made me feel happy for once, however short it lasted. If anything, I should be helping you feel better." "I'm...I'm glad." He glanced at her, chuckling lightly. "Anyways, we have fights to watch." He redirected his attention elsewhere, but couldn't help but notice that Katsuko was still staring at him. He attempted to brush it off before he felt a warm pair of lips on his cheek. Katsuko was staring down at the field when he turned to look at her, but a light blush and a wide grin rested on her face. She was strange, but that's what he liked about her. This would be fairly interesting considering the fact that this kind of relationship, romantic or platonic, was new to him. She was carefree now, she showed interest in his true form, not an ounce of disappointment on her face. She surprised him and continued to surprise him. And she was right. They were both broken and in need of fixing one another. She offered him something he wanted, too. That something was the love of this form which usually was cast asides as less important. He admired how she found love in something as scrawny and tall and just downright weird looking as he was right now. Now if he could only focus on the first tournament and not Katsuko.